Speeding drink-driver jailed for killing teenager who texted 'I may not survive' minutes before Perthshire crash

A speeding driver who caused the death of a terrified teenager who messaged friends to tell them she "may not survive tonight" while a passenger in his car has been jailed.

Erin Slane, 19, sent the message after being picked up by Kyle Patrick on 1 September 2024 and as he hit speeds of up to 119mph in his Ford Fiesta ST-3 turbo on a secluded Perthshire road.

Patrick, 23, has now been jailed for eight years over the fatal collision after earlier pleading guilty to causing Ms Slane's death and serious injury to another passenger by dangerous driving while being impaired through consuming alcohol.

He also admitted repeatedly driving at "grossly excessive speeds" on the journey.

At a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh in May, judge Lord Harrower was told Patrick was speeding along the B9099 Luncarty to Stanley road when he lost control of the car and it left the road near the junction with Gowrie Farm at about 2.10am.

The vehicle tumbled down a grass embankment into a field, rolling several times before coming to rest on its roof.

Prosecutor Graeme Jessop KC told the judge that minutes before the crash, Ms Slane had messaged a group of friends, saying: "I may not survive tonight. I'm scared. Kyle is steaming."

Driver called police 40 minutes after crash

Ms Slane was seriously injured and died at the scene, while another female passenger escaped from the wreck with injuries.

Patrick, from Scone in Perthshire, survived and called the police about 40 minutes later. He told them he had crashed, that he was the driver and had been drinking alcohol so "should not have been driving".

Mr Jessop said: "He stated that he had pulled a passenger out of the car - the witness (Ms Slane's friend) - and was so sorry for driving."

The surviving passenger suffered a fractured arm, nine broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and a fractured finger - she has since made a full physical recovery.

As police probed the crash, it was discovered that Patrick had spent the night drinking with friends in Perth city centre before driving to a taxi rank and offering lifts to people waiting in the queue.

He picked up Ms Slane and her friend outside a pub called That Bar at about 1.45am. Ms Slane was sitting in the front and her friend in the back, both wearing seat belts.

Blood alcohol 'three times the legal limit'

The court heard that on the journey Patrick reached a speed of 119mph in a 60mph area before losing control of the vehicle, and that his blood alcohol level was "exceptionally high".

Investigators who took blood from the first offender at 4.30am - two hours and 20 minutes after the incident - found he was more than three times the drink-driving limit at that time.

Patrick was sentenced to eight years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday and was banned from driving for 10 years.

Tony Lenehan KC, representing Patrick, said the defendant felt the "true weight of his remorse".

Lord Harrower said the incident was "no mere lapse of judgment" on Patrick's part and that he had demonstrated a "prolonged and deliberate course of driving at grossly excessive speeds while impaired through alcohol".

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The crash happened two days before Ms Slane's 20th birthday, and she was due to start studying at Napier University later that month.

The judge said: "Erin was 19, about to start university and had her whole life ahead of her."

He said Patrick's actions had brought "terrible devastation" to the family, adding: "No sentence of this court can alleviate their anguish."

(c) Sky News 2026: Speeding drink-driver jailed for killing teenager who texted 'I may not survive